Joint multi-cell processing (MCP), where the transmitted and received signals and the channel state information are shared between base stations via backhaul links, is an efficient way to mitigate out-of-cell interference. Generally, a centralized signal processor in cloud radio access network (RAN) makes MCP possible. In MCP, a base station (BS) sends log likelihood ratio (LLR) soft bits to the central processor, which generally requires a large amount of backhaul bandwidth. The base station sends decoded bits to the central processor, but does not take full advantage of joint MCP. The central processor performs successive interference cancellation on a per-BS basis. However, this implementation also does not take full advantage of joint MCP. There is a need for efficient compress and forward relaying schemes in joint signal processing between base stations and the central processor, which considers backhaul link capacity.